tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34553650059529077912018-03-06T05:31:22.376-05:00Inside Josh DeLong's MindSometimes it's dark, sometimes it's dirty, but it's my mind.Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifthedelongfamilybloghttps://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-52876234183533552712017-10-31T01:44:00.001-04:002017-10-31T01:48:16.536-04:00I am.If you were asked today to fill in the blank “I am __________.” What would you say? Would your answer change based on the atmosphere you are in, the people you are around, the context of the question, or even your current state of mind?<br />Could you answer the question in a direct manner or would you have to start listing all the things you aren’t, therefore, determining who you are by process of elimination and not directly answering the question of who you are? Would you honestly answer who you are at the current and present time or would you mix in who you are based on where your life may go in the future or who you want be in a future state? Would your internal voice say something different than you external voice?<br />Lastly, could the people who are closest to you validate who you say you are? Would they say you are someone different than who you say you are?<br />Who are you?<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/68D_w30-MDg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2017/10/i-am.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-9787404835806115312017-10-20T07:52:00.001-04:002017-10-20T07:52:59.471-04:00Leadership: Least Significant Value<p>Great leaders don’t become great from doing great things. Great leaders become great for doing the things of least significance. I didn’t say the least value but the least significance. There is a difference.</p><p>Here are a few examples I’ve heard or seen myself in my life. I’ve heard stories of military Generals cleaning the hospital floor and restocking supplies following a bloody battle. I’ve heard stories of military Generals walking the cemetery that hold the graves of many men and women they put there because the men and women in those graves were following their orders. I’ve heard of CEOs taking out the trash and restocking the rest rooms. I’ve seen restaurant owners washing dishes, wiping down tables, and taking out the trash. In the Bible, we have the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. And this weekend I saw a pastor on their knees in the aisle praising God during worship.</p><p>To most people these acts have very little significant value but to great leaders the willingness to do the little things creates a base and a mindset for doing greater things later on. Great leaders are committed to the insignificant.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/OsnhrMLYzMQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2017/10/leadership-least-significant-value.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-2094121065710055322016-10-30T22:20:00.000-04:002016-11-05T22:23:12.250-04:00Christlike<p>The idea to be “Christlike” or “more Christlike” is a falacy of your own mind. Adam was a decendent of God formed in God’s image. Eve was formed from the rib of Adam as a helper. As a Christian you believe you are decendents of Adam and Eve therefore you are already as Christlike as you can be. It is your behavior alone that holds you back in your own mind that you aren’t Christlike.For it was by grace alone that you were saved from your own transgressions through God’s abundance of mercy and love. When you finally embrace the grace of God with your whole heart you will be at peace.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/pZSaECdS2mI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/10/christlike.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-30445727642013234502016-10-23T22:11:00.000-04:002016-11-05T22:12:15.373-04:00Faith and Doubt<p>The opposite of faith is doubt and without some doubt, faith wouldn’t be authentic. Some doubt if perfectly fine. It’s when you change the direction of life away from God is when doubt becomes an issue.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/vKP5_GvjRFs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/10/faith-and-doubt.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-16655419362636739152016-07-01T10:02:00.001-04:002016-07-01T10:02:14.022-04:00Just thinking…<p>One of the hardest things for me as being a Christian is living in a world where the people around you can't understand how you have faith in a God that can't be seen, quantified, or fit into the constraints of this world while living in a time where you will be shamed for loving someone so much that you would devote and give up your whole life for in hope to share your life in the grace and glory of Jesus Christ in victory of overcoming sin and the world.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/WLdySZx4cyg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/07/just-thinking.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-45097178860326068562016-06-03T13:00:00.001-04:002016-06-03T13:00:42.945-04:0028,500!<p>28,500! That’s not a really big number. Think about what you could do with 28,500 dollars. That might be a good down payment on a house or buy you a decent car or maybe a college degree but that isn’t what I’m talking about.</p> <p>28,500 is the approximate number of days, ~78 years, a human being who was born in the United States will live on this Earth. Sounds kind of depressing now right! You’ll spend the first 6,570 days going to school and learning to become an adult. That leaves you with about approximately 21,930 days to make an impact on this Earth and give something back. You’ll spend the next 12 years or until you are around the age of 30 gaining enough wisdom to realize all the things you should have done now in a race to make the last 17,550 days on the Earth count. But what about sleep! There are so many things left to do, so many people left to help and guide, so many books to read, and all you have left is 17,550 days left to do it. </p> <p>How are you going to make those days count? Are you going to invest a little now taking care of yourself so you can live out the last of days as fruitful at the first or are you going to spend it siting on the couch watching TV and surfing the Internet? Time is ticking and no one knows when the clock will stop. What you do with your time is the most valuable thing you will do in life. Are you going to use it selfishly or selflessly by investing in the next generation? Every day counts!</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/iGmCjgxEQvg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/06/28500.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-5420263491032248902016-05-30T12:23:00.000-04:002016-06-07T08:30:10.380-04:00Mother and Son: The Respect Effect ~ ReviewThis post is a book review for the book <a href="http://loveandrespect.info/mother-and-son-the-respect-effect" target="_blank">Mother and Son: The Respect Effect</a> by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. My idea behind reviewing this book was that I figured a lot of Mothers would end up reviewing this book leaving all the reviews one sided. I am a Husband, Father of 3 kids, and a Son so I really wanted to validate Dr. Eggerichs’ writings against my own feelings and thoughts as a Son and as a Husband giving a review from a different side. I have read Dr. Eggerichs other book for couples called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Respect-Desires-Desperately-Needs/dp/1591451876" target="_blank">Love &amp; Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs</a> a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also wanted to see if this book was just a reiteration of the points he mentioned in his other book or if this book brought on new ideas and new concepts.<br /><br />I found this book to be quite enjoyable. Going in I had this preconceived idea that I was probably going to be bored to death since this book wasn’t directed towards me but as I listened to the audio book every day while driving to and from work (I drive almost 1 hour each way every day) I found myself smiling, laughing, and at times making key notes that I could have used this concept with my own Son. Almost every time I agreed with what Dr. Eggerichs concepts on building a better relationship and understanding with our Sons. Many times I even wished my own wife used some of these same concepts in communicating with me. Something I noted that was different in this book versus the Love and Respect book was that he went into far greater detail on various concepts and ideas with building a relationship with your Son through respect but also with men in general using verses from the Bible to back up what he has just said. I feel like this book would greatly benefit Mothers in their relationship with their Son(s) but also greatly improve their relationships with their Husband. I hope you find this book as enjoyable as I did. I’m sure I will end up reading or listening to this book again in the future.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zIhEtNym2VM/V0xvMARdVKI/AAAAAAAAHks/D8JHs49ZAU8Rb33pcwjJeCuliH0m53MygCLcB/s1600/mother%2B%2526%2Bson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zIhEtNym2VM/V0xvMARdVKI/AAAAAAAAHks/D8JHs49ZAU8Rb33pcwjJeCuliH0m53MygCLcB/s320/mother%2B%2526%2Bson.png" width="212" /></a></div><br /><br />Below I am running a giveaway for 1 FREE copy of this book. A winner will be selected in the next 7 days.<br /><br /><br /><a class="rcptr" data-raflid="7c9cdfc12" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/7c9cdfc12/" id="rcwidget_jtwp46kk" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a> <script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script><br /><h4><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):</b> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.</i><i>Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. &nbsp;If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. &nbsp;Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.</i></span></span></h4><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/jKVcxTzt-jQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/05/book-review-mother-and-son-respect.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-78260645836959471262016-02-02T21:24:00.001-05:002016-02-05T09:58:31.995-05:00Hope<div dir="ltr">A hospital is a scary place for someone who hates to see others suffering. I've spent my whole life watching others suffer for various reasons and the older I get I slowly see the people close to me move on. Sitting here, I watched a young woman come into the area in a wheelchair complaining she couldn't feel certain body parts and crying because she was scared. God only knows what was stirring in that woman's head but I felt for her. I won't lie, I wanted&nbsp;to cry myself. She reminded me of one the kids in my youth group. I wanted to walk up and hold this lady's hand and tell her it will be ok. To say a prayer for her that gives her hope that she wasn't just another barcode in the sea of patients. Hope. That's really all we want in life when we go to a hospital or a doctor with an uncertain problem is a little bit of hope.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">This weekend at Revolution I watched a young girl stand there crying after a powerful testimony. A testimony that included an attempt to end their own life. As I watched her cry I knew she had connected with that testimony on a deep level. Maybe she too has thought about suicide at one time. I really know how that feels. It's not a feeling you ever want to have to ever look back on. I know when I had those thoughts the only thing I ever wanted was someone to come along and tell me everything will be ok. After about 30 seconds of watching this girl try to hold her arms up in praise while trying to wipe the tears as fast as she could. Almost if she didn't want anyone to see her crying, I got up. I walked over to her and held her just like I do my own daughters. She just leaned in me and cried her heart out. This went on for about a minute. Eventually, she stood back on her own with her head down. I ask her if she minded if I prayed for her. I put my hand on her shoulder and she leaned into me as I began to pray for her. I prayed for her to have peace. I prayed for her to have hope. I prayed for Jesus to walk beside her because I knew this wasn't the end. She still has an open wound in her life that she's going to need God's guidance and God's unfailing love for. After we prayed I asked the girl her name and introduced myself just to remove any awkwardness. We shook hands, she said thank you, and then a few seconds later her friend ran over to give her the biggest hug. She was smiling again but I could tell there was still some reserve in there. I hope that my presence wasn't just some weird guy holding me but the arms of God letting her know that there is hope. Hope for another day. And a person will go a long way on a little bit of hope.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5qTeqgf9m-0/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5qTeqgf9m-0?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/10cICBf0ssc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2016/02/hope.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-14876744167822031122015-11-17T20:02:00.001-05:002015-11-17T20:02:24.094-05:00Women, stop murdering your husbands<p>I know you read the title like what is he talking about! I’m not murdering my husband. <p>Women, I know you have a hard day and I know you are very busy. Your husband probably left home this morning before you were even up and he’ll probably be home late tonight but don’t murder him when he comes through the door. Two questions out of his mouth to you are probably going to be “How was your day?” and “What did you do today?” Don’t assassinate him by saying “I’m fine” and “Nothing” just because you are tired and over worked. You both probably are. What you’ve done by answering these two questions this way has destroyed any hopes of your husband finding a single piece of information to connect with his wife and murdered any if not all open communication for the rest of the night. <p>Do you know what FINE really means? Feelings Inside Not Expressed. I know you have feelings to tell your husband how your day was because you have feelings when you are mad at him. You may not feel like it but this is the one, if not the only person, you should be able to trust with anything you say so if you can’t take the time to tell him how you feel then what your husband is hearing is “I must not be worth her time”. Especially if you reach to pick up your cell phone 2 seconds later. Woman tell your husband’s how you are feeling and how your day was. Even if it was horrible. He may not act like he’s interested but he wants to know. He needs and should know. Men, be quiet and listen! Your wife is opening her heart to you so this isn’t a time for a quick jab or joke. Be attentive to the conversation and take some mental notes. <p>Now to that second question. I know you got out of bed today and you probably took a shower so don’t tell your husband you did nothing all day. Tell him everything you did with all the details just like you tell your other friends. Even if it takes 15 or 20 minutes. Men, LISTEN! Ask her for more details. If your wife read a book today, ask her to give you some details on what she read. If she did a Bible devotion, ask her how it made her feel. Women, this is your time to tell your husband how good your day was or how horrible you day was so don’t murder him by saying you did nothing and then complain because he never talks to you. You haven’t giving him anything to talk about. <p>Now when you are done talking, ask him how his day was even if you have no clue what he is talking about. I’m sure there is something in there that you can connect with or just laugh about. Communication is the key to your marriage so stop killing it with short answers. In the book “Love &amp; Respect: The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs”, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs talks about having quiet time together with your spouse every day even if you have to go in the bedroom and lock the door to keep the kids out for 15 minutes. Give your husband your time because if you don’t he’s going to find someone or something else to occupy it.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/J-Ne2EGCVRs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/11/women-stop-murdering-your-husbands.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-80099693006464603922015-06-21T23:11:00.001-04:002015-06-21T23:19:28.587-04:00Session 3 : Your Heart Matters (Video Notes)<ul> <li>The heart is three things.</li> <ol> <li>It’s the command center of your life.</li> <li>It’s deceitful and corrupt.</li> <li>It’s made new in Christ.</li></ol> <li>We associate Love with a 3 pound muscle in our chest that pumps blood through our body.</li> <li>We connect with other people emotionally and physically with our hearts.</li> <li>The heart is more than the center of our human affections but actually represents the center of an entire person.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A27&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Luke 10:27</a> Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+7%3A20-22&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Mark 7:20 - 22</a> Then He said, “What comes out of a person—that defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+4%3A23&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Proverbs 4:23</a> Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+17%3A9&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 17:9</a> The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?</li> <li>There wouldn’t even be such thing as country music if it wasn’t for broken promises and broken hearts.</li> <li>When it comes to the heart, you don’t have a lust problem, or a sex problem, or a pornography problem, or a behavior problem, what you have and I have is a heart problem.</li> <li>The heart simply wants to be satisfied with it’s own desires at the expense of others.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+3%3A20&amp;version=NKJV" target="_blank">1 John 3:20</a> For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.</li> <li>The good news is the power of the gospel can change our sick deceitful hearts and make them brand new.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 5:27 - 28</a> You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.</li> <li>Sin happens in the heart first. Each of us is a sinner. Your heart can be made new in Christ.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+3%3A23&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Romans 3:23</a> For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A23&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Romans 6:23</a> For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.</li> <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A17-18&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 6:17 - 18</a> But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.</li> <li>You can never really gain any benefit from living according to your own selfish desires.</li> <li>Jesus is the cure for your heart problem and your lust problem and your shame problem and your guilt problem and your porn problem and your sex problem and your insecurity problem.</li> <li>Jesus is the cure of your sin problem.</li></ul> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/nF47vc-O4Xc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/06/session-3-your-heart-matters-video-notes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-64329350783915772962015-05-15T20:09:00.001-04:002015-05-15T20:09:43.971-04:00Session 6 : Our Final Destination (Video Notes)<p>Below are some of the notes I took while watching the Session 6 video called ‘<em>Our Final Destination</em>’ of the True Love Project with Clayton King.</p> <ul> <li>Sexual desire is a sign of something greater than sex. It’s a reflection of the need for lasting love. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A105-6&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 119:105 - 106</a> Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. I have solemnly sworn to keep Your righteous judgments. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A109-112&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 119:109 - 112</a> My life is constantly in danger, yet I do not forget Your instruction. The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not wandered from Your precepts. I have Your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart. I am resolved to obey Your statutes to the very end. <li>What is your final destination in Life? Wedding day, the wedding dress, honeymoon… <li>You’ll never have a perfect marriage and there is no such thing as perfect sex and there are no perfect spouses. The truth is the person you are going to marry is so sinful that Jesus himself had to die on a cross to save them. <li>You could have the picture perfect marriage. You could be a virgin as you walk down the aisle but if you don’t have Jesus then none of those will satisfy you. And none of those will save you. <li>Jesus is the destination. He’s the big win. He’s the goal. He’s the finish line. He is the treasure at the end of your life. <li>If you get all the other things you ever wanted but you don’t get Jesus then in the end you gain nothing. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+8%3A35+-+38&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Mark 8:35 - 38</a> For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of Me and my words in the adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A12+-+14&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Philippians 3:12 - 14</a> Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. <li>Submission –&gt; Direction –&gt; Instruction –&gt; Action –&gt; Destination <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A9&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 119:9</a> How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A11&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 119:11</a> I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. <li><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A35-37&amp;version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 119:35 - 37</a> Help me stay on the path of Your commands, for I take pleasure in it. Turn my heart to Your decrees and not to material gain. Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in Your ways. <li>If you get Jesus, you get everything!</li></ul> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/M21hCjJJMgY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/05/session-6-our-final-destination-video.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-39351839356209719822015-05-12T14:54:00.001-04:002015-06-21T20:08:03.249-04:00Habakkuk 3:2 What?<p>Today I saw a song title that said Habakkuk 3:2. In my curiosity I decided to look it up. I type it into Google and I get a few links. The first link that pops up is in NIV and I read it.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i4BIdNkc5fo/VVJMTjdxlfI/AAAAAAAAEjw/uwGYBtNV78w/s1600-h/image20.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7qdkAjDi0B4/VVJMV558biI/AAAAAAAAEj4/qZCg8oeg174/image_thumb12.png?imgmax=800" width="357" height="224"></a></p> <p>And then I read it again. I think for a minute “What the heck does that mean?” I felt like Ralphie in The Christmas Story as he hurries to decode the secret message from Orphan Annie. Let me find another version. I read over the ESV text. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tyaveDKorfE/VVJMWZtWr6I/AAAAAAAAEkA/ZfaDdIL8HWo/s1600-h/image19.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HSS1fnyMxCg/VVJMX-bnH5I/AAAAAAAAEkI/9vz8hFLXdpI/image_thumb11.png?imgmax=800" width="347" height="204"></a></p> <p>Still lost! What has me so confused is the last line of the text because it sounds so dark. So then I think maybe seeing the whole chapter will help. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8VcqjvribIY/VVJMYS1gkUI/AAAAAAAAEkQ/krH7DhS0Mtg/s1600-h/image21.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Jw0MgqRJmfs/VVJMZKC5r1I/AAAAAAAAEkY/yNaU6mKz82Q/image_thumb13.png?imgmax=800" width="416" height="244"></a></p> <p>A-ha, it’s a prayer. Ok, now we are getting somewhere. Let’s go back to Google and find out who Habakkuk really is. I look over all the Wikipedia information on Habakkuk and that’s some good information but then I find a link to a blog post from a Bible study. This is where it finally makes sense. The link to the blog is below. <p><a href="https://viministry.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/trusting-god-habakkuk-3/">https://viministry.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/trusting-god-habakkuk-3/</a> <p>Then I think, “This is the same thing we are doing today that he did hundreds of years ago”. So after reading the blog I found, about three times it finally made sense. The reason I share this is because the story of Habakkuk’s heart being changed from a person who knows of God to a person who has experienced God’s great works. It’s a great story that many people deal with in their own lives. It was if this was Habakkuk’s testimony to the rest of the world. <p>At the bottom of the blog there was quote that made perfect sense. I have re-pasted it below. <p><em>“There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness”</em> (A Divine and Supernatural Light, Jonathan Edwards). <p>Of course now excited about the story of Habakkuk, I had to read all 3 chapters. </p> <p><em>Update</em>: I added a link to the video on YouTube of the song mentioned above.</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:5786c3ff-c9fa-4240-b7d9-273b58a07689" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OC0DMKSlPvc?hl=en&amp;hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OC0DMKSlPvc?hl=en&amp;hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/urYPWMtGncM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/05/habakkuk-32-what.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-21868490724283486502015-04-22T09:20:00.001-04:002015-04-22T09:20:32.884-04:00Open Office Culture Doesn’t Work<p>Yesterday I realized this open culture of cube farms doesn’t work. Facebook and Google may have created the push for this open culture but they are counterproductive. Don’t get me wrong here. At one time I thought they were productive. I thought they were the way to go but then I realized something. People aren’t collaborating and the people who are collaborating are disturbing the rest of the people in the area. If you walk around you will see almost everyone with a headset on or ear phones in. They aren’t in online meetings. They are trying to drown out the noise of all the conversations in the area so they can be somewhat productive which means they aren’t collaborating. They are slowly becoming less and less productive. <p>Over the years I’ve been in numerous office situations. I’ve found that individual offices don’t work either. They create silos of people who hardly ever collaborate causing lots of rework. I think they work great for managers and executives who need their private times but not for individuals or team leaders. <p>So what is the solution? The solution is a mix of both. This mix is team rooms. Rooms that seat anywhere from 5 to 10 people in a room where the area in that room is open just like the low wall cube farms. This allows for teams to become closer than just colleagues and that is what builds a team. That is what fosters collaboration, open communication, and ownership. The people in the room work on the same or similar projects that require open atmosphere communication. This is the day-to-day communication that doesn’t directly affect a project but is important. The team members shouldn’t need to wear head phones every day to get work done. The team leaders should also sit with their team members to keep track of their team’s problems and activities. <p>Just some thoughts from a rambling office worker.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/1Z3VvxGNEV4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/04/open-office-culture-doesnt-work.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-50831695801748137082015-04-20T14:10:00.001-04:002015-04-23T15:43:58.466-04:00Easter realizationToday I realized something…<br>So what stemmed this thought? Today at church a new friend came over and gave me a hug after the service. It was a glorious service today. Anyway, it wasn't just a hug. It felt different. It sparked something inside of me that made me realize something. I finally realized that something I've been looking for my whole life, something I've been praying for, I will never have on this earth. What I mean is I’ll never know what it feels like to have an earthly father’s love for his son. This may seem bad to you but it’s a great breakthrough for me. It means I’m letting go of things that are holding me back. I’ve struggled my whole life of 35 years with wondering what it felt like to have a father’s love for his son. Even as being a father now, I’ve made my mistakes. From the outside looking in, most people would probably say I haven’t been a good father. Especially to my son. What I’ve learned over the past few months is I’m not a bad father. I’m a father who didn’t have a father to model that example so I’m having to figure things out the hard way. By making mistakes and failing a lot.<br>I’m sure you are thinking, where is the breakthrough right! The breakthrough is that by letting go of the thought and trying to find the feeling of what a father’s love should feel like, I can focus my time and energy on accepting the love of God as my father filling the hole in my heart and let that joy and love overflow from my heart into my own family. I can let the Godly men I have become friends with be the example of being a loving father.<br>This thought then got me thinking what is going to happen with my kids and their kids. The absence of a father at one generation before the developing of the foundation can take place will ripple across multiple generations before the males in the family genealogy becomes aligned with children who've had a stable father the whole time. Sometimes a grandparent or someone else can step in and take on the role shortening the generations ripple affect but it all takes time. Something we all have a limited amount of.<br><br><br> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:012e3d66-65c1-466c-b91b-8538a9b33702" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/foVRP07WOAg?hl=en&amp;hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/foVRP07WOAg?hl=en&amp;hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/KEEM2HE_bcE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/04/easter-realization.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-47422642932586058472015-03-11T21:52:00.000-04:002015-06-08T10:47:11.493-04:00Are you really living life to the fullest?If tomorrow you were given 30 days to live, what would you stop doing and what would you start doing?<br /><br /><h2>What would you give up or stop doing?</h2>Maybe you would give up going to work or maybe say goodbye to that Netflix marathon you've been watching for 2 weeks, or maybe exercising, or healthy eating. Who needs to exercise and eat healthy when you are dying, right!<br /><br /><h2>What would you start doing?</h2>Maybe you would start going to church, maybe read the bible (You know you want to start studying for the big test coming up in heaven), maybe call a few friends just to hear their voice again, or maybe do a little traveling. Have one last family reunion? Maybe start a journal for your kids to read later or write a book to your kids for when you are gone.<br /><br />So I ask you these 2 questions for a reason. What’s the difference in giving these things up when you know you are going to die but yet you’ll do them today without any regard for your life. You spend today thinking there will be a tomorrow, or there will be a next month&nbsp;or a next year. What you aren’t doing is living life to the fullest. If you had 30 days to live would you sit down and watch the whole Grey’s Anatomy series? I already calculated it. The whole series comes out to 18 continuous days of watching TV. I highly doubt you would sit down and watch a whole Netflix series knowing you were going to die soon. So why would you do that when you think you are going to live many more years? Is your life some how less valuable when you think you are going to die in the far out future versus the near future? Now obviously you can’t just quit work without a good reason because you still have bills and people to support but maybe you will think of work as just a resource to do life.<br /><br />Now let’s talk about those things you would start doing. What’s stopping you today from doing those things now? Probably money. Maybe vacation time or other commitments. What is your plan to start doing those things? If those things are so precious that you would spend the last days of your life doing them, why aren't you doing them now? I suggest you make a plan every year to do one or two of those things you would do in your last days that you aren't doing and then plan the rest of your year around them. If those things are that precious then everything should come after them. Including work! Your job should supplement your life and not consume your life.<br /><br />These aren't lessons I just one day realized. These are lessons that have taken many years to learn and refine. Something that has also taken me a long time to learn is that time is truly your most precious asset in life. Ask yourself, what would you give up today if you were going to die in 30 days?<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/kaZmuQE0eDM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/03/are-you-really-living-life-to-fullest.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-59509417277464937432015-02-15T15:44:00.001-05:002015-04-13T08:11:48.423-04:00Happiness in yourselfHere's a little knowledge tip in life. You are responsible for your own happiness in life. It's nobody else's job on this planet to make you happy in life. Not your friend's, not your family's, not your spouse or significant other, or your kids job. Only you can define if you are happy in life and only you can control if you are happy. If you are blaming someone else or some event or something for making you unhappy, it's your fault that you let them or it steal your happiness. Happiness comes from inside.<br /><br />This is a message I originally posted on my Facebook timeline September 9, 2014.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/62rFdoGrHpw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/02/happiness-in-yourself.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-89705354361533756472015-02-14T19:35:00.001-05:002015-02-14T19:35:25.120-05:00The first time God spoke to meIt was a Sunday morning before church and my wife and I had just had a little argument about having money for this weeks tithes. My wife either doesn't understand how much this means to me or I haven't communicated it well enough but this week she told me she had spent the money on something else. As we are walking to the church we have some words back and forth and then I ask her if she locked the truck. She said "No". &nbsp;We said a couple words about who was going to go back and I proceeded back to lock the truck. I bit my tongue and held my words in that I wanted to say since I'm trying to be a better husband. Low and behold, did I know that walk back to the truck would be life changing. As I'm walking and grumbling unloving words in my head about my wife, I hear the words "unconditional". It wasn't like someone whispered the word unconditional. It was if everything around me was gone and it was just God and I. I knew right away what he meant. I wanted to drop to my knees and start crying. What the lord meant was "Love your wife unconditionally". She is a good hearted woman and for that you need to love her even if you are mad about why or how she did something. He was right. I wasn't loving my wife unconditionally.<br /><br />Keep in mind that I've never had this open line of communication with God like this. It was almost scary at first but he knew what to say that would put me back on track. You never know how or when God will speak to you.<br /><br />Originally written in February 2014.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/Ei421yUeru8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/02/the-first-time-god-spoke-to-me.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-16620450035972146742015-02-07T19:33:00.001-05:002015-02-07T19:37:38.849-05:00Church today is just a trailer<p>Do you ever feel like the church sermon on Sunday is just a trailer or a 15 minute advertisement for Sunday school? I remember back when I was a kid growing up I usually went to two different churches. One was Calvary Advent Christian Church pastored by Jim Lee and the other was a small church in Hudson, North Carolina that I don’t remember the name of. </p> <p>I remember going to this smaller church with Donna and her son Bryson who was my best friend. I remember there were times when this preacher would get into the Holy Spirit and the words would start flowing. He’d make an announcement that it’s about 12 PM that if you had somewhere to be that you could leave but he was going to keep on preaching. And he would. Sometimes we wouldn’t get out of church till 1 o’clock. I hated it as a kid but these were some of the best memories I had of church. You truly got the meaning because you could see their sermons were from the heart and off the cuff. They may have started from a script of notes but they didn’t end that way. These are the sermons I like.</p> <p>Another time when I was at Calvary Advent Christian Church I remember Jim Lee voicing his aggravation about all the announcements and other stuff that was taking away from his preaching time. I remember Jim didn’t always stop at 12 PM like most churches. Sometimes he stopped at 12:15 or 12:30 if the message really needed it and you could always hear a few people grumble. I commend him for this because these were the messages I got the most out of. Sermons shouldn’t have a time limit.</p> <p>Why don’t preachers today run over time? I feel like churches today have to be done by a specific time or else. I’ve heard preachers say before “I know I have 20 minutes but I shoot for 15 minutes so I don’t make anyone mad if I run over”. I feel like when preachers are just preaching to meet a specific time slot they aren’t actually preaching and just reciting an essay. It feels like I’m listening to the trailer of a sermon and if you want the full message you must go to Bible study class. Preachers should preach about a message from the heart and not just some Bible notes they threw down. I can usually tell when a preacher is preaching from the heart and the message has less value when they aren’t. I hate it when a preacher gets into a message, looks up and they have 5 minutes left and give you the short version of the rest of the sermon so they make their time slot. I’m pretty sure God didn’t say church had to start and stop at a specific time. So why don’t preachers of today’s time preach like preachers of the 80’s and 90’s? I’m a long version kind of guy when it comes to sermons. I love to sit back and hear a good 1 hour sermon. I beam from ear to ear because I know this is the good stuff. I’m about to get a life changing message hear. Call me old fashioned but this is me.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/DpvInUlO9sM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/02/church-today-is-just-trailer.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-17485962468891099892015-02-04T22:26:00.001-05:002015-02-04T22:26:52.935-05:00Revolution Recap<p>WOW! Where do we go from here? If you didn’t go then I can’t explain the feeling you have. It’s just indescribable. The Bethany Youth always amaze me in the love they have for Christ. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPXL6M4DrE" target="_blank">Revolution 2015</a> in Columbia, South Carolina. What did I take away from this trip? </p> <p>The week leading up to Revolution was complete chaos for me. This week was grocery week and we are preparing for a big software release at work. Along with all my other commitments, there never seemed to be enough time in the day for sleep. I knew going into Friday was going to be rough and I prayed I could just stay awake for these youth on Friday. The drive up to Columbia was short and I think the anticipation kept me awake the whole time. We arrived at the Township Auditorium about 7 PM on Friday night. I was in complete “WOW” of everything. The music, the venue, the staff. Everything was awesome and far exceed any expectations I previously had about the event. As the music played and the kids danced I realized at one point that I no longer need alcohol to have fun in a setting like this. I’m a shy person in public but I’m slowly working on fixing that. This has never been something I liked about myself. I also realized that as adults, if we just have fun and embrace the moment we are all teenagers on the inside, just with more responsibilities. We capped the night off by taking everyone to Krispy Kreme donuts at 10:30 at night.</p> <p>Saturday was another fun filled day. I remember one of the best parts of my morning was waking up and scanning through Twitter and Instagram for the hash tag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23revSC" target="_blank">#RevSC</a>. It was a heart warming moment to see the comments the kids at the event were posting. We started the morning off by volunteering at a Agape Senior center for a couple hours. The kids worked hard and got to hang out with the Seniors at the center. It was a heart warming moment. I was also appreciative that I was given the opportunity to take 13 youth to the center with another adult. We met for lunch at a local church for pizza. Here I got to sit down and just get to talk with a few youth. I always value the time I have just to sit down and connect with what it going on in their lives. After lunch we headed off to the Township Auditorium for a few more sessions of the day. The last session of the day was the session I remembered the most. I got to see over 20 youth kids from Bethany go down front and be moved by the Holy Spirit. The best part of the trip was after the last session Will had the 20 or so kids meet in his room to talk to these kids and I was invited. I really got to know how they felt and to share some information of my journey with Christ with them. About 2 AM all the youth left to go back to their rooms and I got to do some brainstorming with Will for about an hour. It’s always good when you get some one-on-one time with someone you look up to. We both have very busy lives and never really get time to sit down and just talk very often.</p> <p>Sunday we packed up from the hotel and drove to the Township Auditorium for the last session of the event. <a href="http://www.royaltailor.com/" target="_blank">Royal Tailor</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/frankclark" target="_blank">DJ Frank Clark</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/officialbigredd" target="_blank">Big Redd</a> blew the roof off the place again for a third day. We had another great session by <a href="http://www.jonathanmckeewrites.com/" target="_blank">Jonathon McKee</a> and then it was over. We stopped somewhere on the edge of Columbia to get lunch before we headed home. I had talked to Will prior to leaving the auditorium that I wanted to talk to the youth one last time before we got back to Summerville since Will wasn’t coming back with us. This was my first opportunity I’ve had to really speak to the kids as a whole. This is something Will usually does so I was a bit nervous and tried to stay to my notes I had taken earlier during the day. I talked to them about keeping Christ in the Center of everything they do and to not let their flame be dimmed by the rest of the world as they go back to their normal lives. </p> <p>The drive home was rather fun. We jammed out to Royal Tailor music all the way back to Summerville. I got to think about some thoughts as I always do when I’m driving. That’s my thinking time. Here’s something I thought of. A life as a Christian is like the core values of the US Air Force. </p> <ul> <li>Integrity first <li>Service before self <li>Excellence in all you do</li></ul> <p>I could probably preach a 15 minute session on these alone since that are something I’ve pretty much lived my whole life by. I had some other personal thoughts about myself I need to work on changing and I’m slowly making a plan to do those. </p> <p>I’m surprised how much I was able to stay awake through out the whole weekend. I went 4 days straight of being awake 20 hours a day going wide open and never really got tired. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit. What ever it was, I was surprised that I was able to still do that. One of the best parts was waking up ever morning and scrolling through Twitter and Instagram looking at the posts. I have to say I love being around&nbsp; and connecting with everyone of these kids. This trip was definitely a confirmation of what God has called me to do and I hope the love and drive I have for youth ministry never dies out. </p> <p>Matthew 28:19</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p align="center"><em>“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” ~ Jesus</em></p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/SGOPhbpTUs4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/02/revolution-recap.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-33405999776032527932015-01-29T11:52:00.001-05:002015-01-29T11:52:27.910-05:00Define: Prayer Programming<p>The act of writing some code and then publishing or distributing the application without any testing or verification.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/NjGgRNWsWvw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/01/define-prayer-programming.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-11483264290959303342015-01-16T13:14:00.001-05:002015-01-16T13:15:28.928-05:00Define: Knowledge Transfer<p>The act of a person with a significant amount of knowledge dropping a whole lot of information on a new person who has no idea what the information is used for or how it's used so the knowledgeable person can tell their manager that they had a knowledge transfer session with the new person.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/vr0wMakXzos" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com1http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/01/define-knowledge-transfer.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-38797017944421601972015-01-13T22:48:00.001-05:002015-01-13T22:50:01.192-05:00TVR Recap<p>This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the <a href="http://tvr.org" target="_blank">TVR Christian Camp</a> in Plumtree, NC with 19 Bethany United Methodist Church high school youth. Although we left on Friday night, my adventure to TVR began on Monday night earlier during the week while laying in bed with a fever. There I was laying in bed miserable from the fever and I had a vision. It was a short vision that lasted about 3 seconds. During this vision I saw a man standing on what looked to be a stage with a green plaid shirt and blue jeans on. The man’s face was blurred out but I could see the chin and kind of make out the hair style. The man I saw was holding something. At first I thought the man I saw was holding a rope but then I heard him talking about eternity. About going to heaven or hell for eternity. Later on I will give more about the importance of this vision.</p> <p>I had the privilege of driving one of the vans from Summerville to TVR Friday night. We arrived at TVR around 11 PM and the drive brought back many memories of growing up in North Carolina. It definitely felt like home. After getting a short briefing from the TVR staff and then unpacking the vans we were able to get to our rooms where we finally fell a sleep around 2 AM.</p> <p>On Saturday morning something happened that truly scared me and filled me with happiness. After breakfast we had morning worship session led by Jonathan and this is when my vision came to life. As Jonathon was talking he started talking about going to heaven or hell for eternity. The exact same words I heard during my vision and then I start looking at Jonathan and the picture matches the vision exactly. The black lines I saw in my vision were the microphone stands. Jonathan was wearing a green plaid shirt with blue jeans while holding a coffee mug. The shape of his chin and hair style matched exactly. I didn’t know if I was to be scared or to be happy because this was the first time something like this has happened to me before. This moment truly reassured to me that I was meant to be here at TVR with these kids and there was a reason God wanted me here. The rest of Saturday was filled with activities, a hike to plow point with a majestic view, fun games, great food, a camp fire, and some awesome fellowship.</p> <p>Sunday I felt kind of bad for missing my normal church service. Something about it just felt wrong but being at TVR with these kids I felt closer to God than I had ever been. Again Sunday was another day I was taught how it felt to have your heart filled with joy. As we left TVR to get our skiing equipment from the rental place I heard the kids feeling unsure about their choice of skiing and snowboarding. Many of them were trying it for the first time. Quite a few people really went out of their way&nbsp; that day&nbsp; to help others but 2 people really stuck out to me. One was a girl named Madison and the other was a girl named Claire. Although Madison couldn’t ski because of a prior injury she was still healing from, she was out there taking pictures and cheering people on as they came down the mountain. The other girl Claire truly was a heartwarming experience to see. This little girl was in tears about skiing at the rental shop. A few people gave her words of encouragement and love at the rental place reassuring her that everything would be OK. At the slopes Will spent some time teaching Claire how to ski one-on-one after his mini session with the others who wanted a quick lesson. Every time I came down the mountain I saw Claire there on the bunny slope trying her hardest each time getting better and better. Claire never gave up. I found it more fun watching this little quite girl conquer her fears and build her self confidence. This is what I loved so much about CrossFit and now I’m witnessing similar accomplishments with this little girl. I must have stood there for 20 or 30 minutes watching Claire at the end with a huge smile on her face each time she went down the slope. You couldn’t have asked for a better day on the slopes. The temperature was nice, the snow was nice, and the smiles of the kids made it just a magnificent day.</p> <p>The highlight for Monday was the debrief session with the youth before we left. We all sat in a circle before we piled in the vans to head back to Summerville. What I heard in this debrief session honestly reassured why we went to TVR. Almost every kid had some life altering experience with their faith and to hear that first hand after getting to know each one of these kids really meant a lot to the adults. I myself was almost in tears just listening to each kid speak over and over about how something they heard during one of the sessions really touched their heart.</p> <p>What did I take away from this weekend? </p> <p>One of the best parts of the trip was getting to know the kids and adults while building a relationship with each one of them. I laughed, worshipped, hiked, and played some of the weirdest games with these kids while getting to know each one of their personalities. These kids taught me what it felt like to truly have a heart filled with joy. Along with being with these kids I got to see from the TVR staff what it means to live and work together for Christ. Going to TVR affected how I am going to do some things in my own life in the future. One thing is I want to start blogging more about my feelings and my faith. I have something to say to world and I just haven’t figured out which way I want to get it out there.</p> <p align="center"><em>“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”</em>&nbsp; ~ <em>C.S. Lewis</em></p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/Ty-lU9CGZIE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com1http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/01/tvr-recap.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-14921974387802933262014-12-25T23:56:00.001-05:002015-02-15T15:51:52.584-05:00My 2014 RecapAs I sit here on my couch on Christmas night looking back at this past year I can’t do anything but smile. The year of 2014 has been a great and interesting year for me. At the beginning of the year I made 5 goals and wrote them down on paper knowing all of them required work but I didn’t realize how one goal would change my life forever. Below were my 2014 goals I made for myself and the outcome of those goals.<br /><ol><li>Hit 1000# and 1100# total on the platform. </li><li>Lose 30# of fat. </li><li>Start putting money into my 401K. </li><li>Go back to college. </li><li>Become more active in church.</li></ol><h1></h1><h2>Hit a 1000# and 1100# total on the platform</h2>In April I competed in the 2014 APA RAW National Powerlifting Championship. It was here that I hit a 1047.2 pound total with a 341.7 pound squat, a 292.1 bench, and a 413.4 pound deadlift. This met the first part of my goal and I was on track to breaking a 1100 pound total in November when we had to move to South Carolina. I will be back in 2015 looking to break that 1100 pound total and then some.<br /><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:cbf7bb77-c724-40ef-a0bb-2736d0241bc6" style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; width: 425px;"><div id="b476dc88-fd49-4ca4-8ef2-4ed60fb876a3" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0b4CRCN7YA" target="_new"><img alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vseOIKL_8U4/VJzqVd0vDJI/AAAAAAAADlY/JAUJtkaxlEw/video075b3a58868f%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('b476dc88-fd49-4ca4-8ef2-4ed60fb876a3'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = &quot;&lt;div&gt;&lt;object width=\&quot;425\&quot; height=\&quot;355\&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=\&quot;movie\&quot; value=\&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/X0b4CRCN7YA&amp;hl=en\&quot;&gt;&lt;\/param&gt;&lt;embed src=\&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/X0b4CRCN7YA&amp;hl=en\&quot; type=\&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash\&quot; width=\&quot;425\&quot; height=\&quot;355\&quot;&gt;&lt;\/embed&gt;&lt;\/object&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&quot;;" /></a></div></div></div><h2>Lose 30# of fat.</h2>This year I didn’t do too well in losing body fat. My goal was 30 pounds of body fat and I only lost about 10 pounds total of body fat. At my lowest I got down to about 252 pounds in around July after hiring a diet coach. Next year the goal is more and we will see where I go.<br /><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-NZr9MS8QBQQ/VJzqV0iJNQI/AAAAAAAADkg/X3FGKXXMMpk/s1600-h/BodPod%252520FB%252520Post%25255B6%25255D.png"><img alt="BodPod FB Post" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-07EOJcH29H4/VJzqWQI8ksI/AAAAAAAADks/uZX1GrdT1RE/BodPod%252520FB%252520Post_thumb%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" height="225" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="BodPod FB Post" width="528" /></a><br /><h2>Start putting money into my 401K</h2>This isn’t a goal I even came close to meeting. It was added as a stretch goal to really push myself. In April I realized we were going to be about 5,000 dollars short in December if we didn’t change something. We made slow changes to our budget but then we were hit with moving to South Carolina. Somehow our budget made it through by God’s grace. Because of having to keep such a tight budget with expenses I wasn’t able to elect to put any money into my 401K but this will be on my goals list for 2015 and it won’t be a stretch goal.<br /><h2>Go back to college</h2>In June with the help of my manager Justin I went back to college for one 5 week class at AIU. I had planned to continue but when the big move came around in August AIU wouldn’t let me take a temporary leave of absence because I hadn’t gone to school for 1 quarter yet so after taking one class I had to drop out of school again. I didn’t reenroll into classes after moving but I have been working with a mentor to figure the easiest path for me to get a Bachelors degree with the 131 credits I currently have. Maybe next year will bring better news for college and a degree.<br /><h2>Become more active in Church</h2>This is the goal I have made the most progress on this year. Early in the year God spoke to me for the first time. It was weird to be scared and happy at the same time but more scared. God told me one word “unconditional”. (<a href="http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2015/02/the-first-time-god-spoke-to-me.html" target="_blank">"The first time God spoke to me"</a>) In July I fully proclaimed my love for God to the public by being baptized by two men I have looked up to for years. Soon after being baptized God spoke to me again. This time I was on a walk praying about if I should take the job in South Carolina or not. It was 1 day from the deadline for me to turn in my decision. As I’m walking God tells me “I will follow you where every you go”. At first this was confusing because it wasn’t an answer of yes or no. It was an answer of I will love you no matter what decision you make but the words “I will follow you” lead me to believe I should take the job. In early August God spoke to me again. He told me I was put on this earth to become a leader and it’s time for me to start being a leader. This is really confusing when you don’t know who or what to lead but I had faith in God’s word. I really didn’t know where this would take me. In October is when I realized what becoming a leader really meant. I was given the opportunity to start my own Bible Study small group at my work if I wanted to do it and something else clicked. It was “Husband’s must lead their wives”. Your probably thinking “How sexist or chauvinistic!” Well it means the husband should do everything he can to lead his wife to Christ even if that requires reading the Bible to her. Husbands should be the Godly example for her to want to become closer to Christ. In November I was given an opportunity to become a youth leader at my church. It was then I finally found why God called me to move to South Carolina. God called me to South Carolina to be a leader. <br />So what does 2015 have in store for me. I have some plans in the works but I won’t let all those out yet. God has had a great influence in my life and he has given me visions of the future. People wouldn’t believe it but I’ve had visions of becoming a motivational speaker and even a preacher. Yeah! The temperature of Hell may just drop a few degrees if those visions are true but I have faith in what God has told me and showed me. All I can say is the outlook for 2015 looks hard, life changing, and exciting and that’s all we can really ask for.<br /><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ezewD1_SJIg/VJzqXZgLXjI/AAAAAAAADk0/wC2f1tYZBhw/s1600-h/Baptism%25255B5%25255D.png"><img alt="Baptism" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Q7ofn2sE380/VJzqYVSVAzI/AAAAAAAADk8/3oin6MmYMN4/Baptism_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" height="390" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Baptism" width="569" /></a><br /><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ool-qlsoetA/VJzqZESQpHI/AAAAAAAADlE/I54yNifrbZM/s1600-h/10387425_10154992144960338_2519926227959480371_n%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img alt="10387425_10154992144960338_2519926227959480371_n" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-NPis07r984g/VJzqZsZeAQI/AAAAAAAADlM/53zKljJ1L4Y/10387425_10154992144960338_2519926227959480371_n_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="348" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="10387425_10154992144960338_2519926227959480371_n" width="565" /></a><br /><br /><blockquote>You are here to live your purpose. Search your mind and follow your heart. Be willing to make a radical change in order to live your dream. It takes courage to pursue a life that is calling you. Answer the call! ~ Les Brown&nbsp;</blockquote><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/ivuZqUzVP0M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2014/12/my-2014-recap.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-86277140847035079882014-06-21T00:37:00.001-04:002014-06-21T00:53:20.404-04:00Training the mental game for maximum effortThe past couple weeks I have hit some big personal records (PR) in the gym. At my gym we follow the Westside Conjugate programming style so we are performing various max lefts almost every week. After a few of my friends said <em>“What are you doing?”</em> or <em>“I need to start working out with you.”</em> I realized I had found something.<br /><br />Back in April a couple weeks before my powerlifting meet I got this idea and toyed with a little. It wasn't as clear then on what it would turn into but I knew I might have landed on something. Lifting weights is just as much mental as it is physical. After my meet I knew for 30 days my strength would be crap so I didn't bring the idea back up to test it because it would just be a useless test with false results. <br /><br />Now about mid May I decided that I would try playing this mental game again. I say play because in a lift that requires constant time under tension (the squat, bench press, or deadlift) you have to learn where your black hole is. The black hole is that point where you are about to black out but still have strength to keep pressing on. Basically the lights go out but you are still in full control. About 2 weeks of playing with my blackout threshold I learned something that completely changed my thinking on lifting maximum weight. 1 of 3 things is going to happen when lifting maximum weight.<br /><ol><li>You are going to make the lift.</li><li>You are going to do a maximum effort isometric hold and then fail.</li><li>You are going to black out.</li></ol>I know now you are probably saying <em>“Josh you are crazy”</em>. Well you are probably right. When you approach a lift you can’t think <em>“This weight is heavy and I may fail”</em>. You have to walk up to that bar and tell yourself <em>“I am going to make this lift no matter what. I am going to stay with the weight even if it takes me 20 seconds of constant pain wrenching tension to complete this lift.”</em> You have 3 types of muscles in your body: fast acting, medium acting, and slow acting. Why do I tell you this? Well when you are in a grinding squat most people dump the weight after 1 or 2 seconds because they think “Oh this is heavy and I’m not going to get it so I'll just dump it”. You can't do this because in 1 to 2 seconds only your fast acting muscles have activated. You haven't given enough time for the brain to signal to fire more neurons to activate more muscles. Now let’s say you are in a slow grinder on the way up and you've told yourself you are going to stay with this lift, one of two things are going to happen. You are going to do a maximum effort isometric hold and then dump the weight or you are slowly going to wait for the brain to fire enough neurons to activate the medium acting muscles and then the slow acting muscles and slowly inch this weight up making the lift. While grinding this weight out you may be circling the black hole and you may even enter the black hole. This is why it’s good to know where your black out threshold is or just say screw it, blackout and hope for the best on the way down. If you are like me and don’t care then you may want to lift in a power rack or with safety chains so you don't hurt yourself. <br /><br />I know I was a little confusing but lifting is as much psychological as it is physical. You must train yourself to know I am going to stick with the weight because 1 of the 3 things I listed above are going to happen. The worst thing that can happen is blacking out but really you are more than likely just going to do an isometric hold. Hold that weight for 10 or even 20 seconds if you have to but know that I'm not going to give up on this fight until I've given my brain every second it has to activate every muscle I have to get this bar up. Then if your body is physically strong enough you will persevere and make a good lift. This mentality has scored me multiple 20 and 30 pound PRs on lifts in the past 2 weeks. Keep in mind that you aren't going to be able to master this overnight or in a week. It's going to take some practice.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/ncHycu9elq8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2014/06/training-mental-game.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3455365005952907791.post-35991089621749946632013-07-23T13:56:00.001-04:002013-07-23T21:58:12.706-04:00How to find the most referenced methods using NDepend 4 Professional EditionFor a while I've been writing unit tests for a framework of code we develop and maintain. For the main shared assembly I have about 40% code coverage but for the whole solution the code coverage is under 10%. My thoughts were that if I knew which methods and areas of the code we referenced the most, then I could start writing unit tests for that code now and ensure I got the largest bang for my time.<br><br>Today I posted a <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17811649/find-methods-with-most-references" target="_blank">question on StackOverflow</a> with the very idea and I got a response to use <a href="http://ndepend.com/" target="_blank">NDepend</a>. As soon as I figured out how to use NDepend to get the results I want and posted it, others wanted to know how I did it.<br><br>I began by downloading a trial of NDepend 4.1.0 Professional Edition. Extract the program to a folder from the zip file you downloaded.<br><br>After a few trial and errors attempts, I found it easiest to copy the assemblies that you want to scan to a temporary directory so that it doesn't scan other non-essential assemblies. I copied my compiled assemblies with debug symbols from my solution to "C:\Temp\dump" for reference in the post.<br><br>Open VisualNDepend and I selected ".NET assemblies in folder" under the Recent Projects section.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQ7Y0y9yG44/Ue69Z0Wcf1I/AAAAAAAABis/gg0_USV3YYM/s1600/NDepend+Initial+Selection.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQ7Y0y9yG44/Ue69Z0Wcf1I/AAAAAAAABis/gg0_USV3YYM/s1600/NDepend+Initial+Selection.PNG"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div>This will bring up a dialog box for you to browse to the folder where you copied the .NET assemblies to and then press OK.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aR-nHQHTb-Q/Ue6-WrpoqUI/AAAAAAAABi4/s2FCCK61rfs/s1600/Dialog+Selection+Window.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aR-nHQHTb-Q/Ue6-WrpoqUI/AAAAAAAABi4/s2FCCK61rfs/s320/Dialog+Selection+Window.PNG" width="320"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div>After you press OK, another dialog box will pop up. Just press OK to analyze the assemblies you've selected.<br><br>Now you should be displayed the UI Metrics Window as shown below.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EW7Q1xYVeI8/Ue6_eHTaxnI/AAAAAAAABjI/BZfEwZ1sYYs/s1600/UI+Metrics+window.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EW7Q1xYVeI8/Ue6_eHTaxnI/AAAAAAAABjI/BZfEwZ1sYYs/s320/UI+Metrics+window.PNG" width="320"></a></div><br>In the Metrics window you will see a drop down menu in the middle of the form. You want to click the selection arrow on the right and select "# Methods calling me: 1 method - XX.X pixels" Note that XX.X will be different based on your screen resolution.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ND-WiB_-lJg/Ue7AabgWwCI/AAAAAAAABjU/I4JPNgRPGqo/s1600/Metrics+Window+Snip.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="54" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ND-WiB_-lJg/Ue7AabgWwCI/AAAAAAAABjU/I4JPNgRPGqo/s320/Metrics+Window+Snip.PNG" width="320"></a></div><br>Now select the icon to the right of the drop down selection arrow that looks like some colored vertical bars and select however many methods you want to see. I selected the Top 1000 records.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_XMJarWyadY/Ue7BGm9oGqI/AAAAAAAABjg/ar_JQrouNMM/s1600/Top+Selection+Dropdown.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_XMJarWyadY/Ue7BGm9oGqI/AAAAAAAABjg/ar_JQrouNMM/s1600/Top+Selection+Dropdown.PNG"></a></div><br>On the left side of the NDepend form a Query and Rules Edit window will be displayed. At the bottom of the window are the results for the methods with the most references. At this point you can export the results however you want. I personally chose to export the results to Excel so that I could manipulate the results a little more. This isn't a perfect query just because it also lists the references to methods in the .NET Framework so I cleaned some of that stuff up in Excel.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TjbNABR-Iek/Ue7CjTzDxjI/AAAAAAAABj0/b9JUYkQCfZw/s1600/Query+Window.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TjbNABR-Iek/Ue7CjTzDxjI/AAAAAAAABj0/b9JUYkQCfZw/s320/Query+Window.PNG" width="193"></a></div><br><br>At this point you have a complete report of the Top XX number of methods in you project with the number of times that specific method is called. I hope others found this to be useful as I did.<br><br>If you know the CQL syntax for NDepend, you could take this farther by importing your current code coverage results into NDepend and then modifying the query to exclude methods that already have code coverage but for now this works good for me.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thedelongfamilyblog/~4/sL3XxC0lEUs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joshua DeLonghttps://plus.google.com/110253091537332540313noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.thedelongfamily.com/2013/07/how-to-find-most-referenced-methods.html